


Promise

by imaginentertain



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: I clearly mean happy angst because that's how I roll, M/M, Robron Week, day one: fluff, when I say fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-10
Updated: 2017-07-10
Packaged: 2018-11-30 12:31:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11463657
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imaginentertain/pseuds/imaginentertain
Summary: When Aaron had told Robert to "just do us all a favour and go" he'd been the last person to suspect that Robert would actually do it.  But he had.  He'd packed his bags, gotten in his car, and just left.  That had been about six weeks ago (five weeks, three days, eight hours and... twenty four minutes.  Not that Aaron was counting) and no one had heard from him since.  All the police would do was tell him that Robert was safe and well and didn't want any contact.





	Promise

_Day 1: Robron + fluff + “You look amazing tonight.”_

 

Aaron pulled at his tie, feeling almost choked by the damn thing.  It had been Liv's insistence that he wear this stupid get up and if only to stop her nagging and sulking and blasting out that stupid pop that only she and Robert liked—

 

No.

 

He wasn't going there.  Not today, not tomorrow, not ever.

 

His right fingers moved to his left instinctively, seeking out the metal band as if he needed reminding that it was still there, that it wasn't all over.

 

Not yet anyway.

 

When Aaron had told Robert to "just do us all a favour and go" he'd been the last person to suspect that Robert would actually do it.  But he had.  He'd packed his bags, gotten in his car, and just left.  That had been about six weeks ago (five weeks, three days, eight hours and... twenty four minutes.  Not that Aaron was counting) and no one had heard from him since.  All the police would do was tell him that Robert was safe and well and didn't want any contact.

 

The Mill seemed huge without Robert, like it wasn't a home anymore with just him and Liv.  The would-be-nursery was stripped bare back to the plaster and floorboards but that was as far as he'd gotten with it.  He'd offered the stuff they'd bought to Ross who'd turned his nose up at all that "fancy stuff" and bought a semi offensive range of babygrows that declared the kid to be a "playa like my dada".

 

Maybe it was the fact that Aaron felt lost since that final fight, since Liv came home, since the gossip moved on from paternity tests and departures.  What other reason could there be for Aaron agreeing to be one of the chaperones at the school... what was this?  Anti prom?  He didn't remember and he didn't care to remember.  All that really mattered was that Liv was back in school, starting over in Year 11.  New school, new friends, new responsibilities.  Which, apparently, included the start-of-year anti-prom he was currently hating with every fibre of his being.

 

Still, at least Liv was having a good time.  She was out there somewhere, in a dress that showed a little too much leg and far too much cleavage for his liking, but she was happy and that was what mattered.

 

He pulled at his tie again, wondering if he could get away with removing it when he felt, rather than saw, someone at his elbow.  He sighed and dropped his hand, turning with expectation to smile at the Head.

 

"You look amazing tonight," Robert said, and Aaron's whole body seemed to freeze.  "Liv's been texting," he said by way of explanation for the unasked question.  "And emailing and WhatsApping and pretty much every other platform she can think of.  Didn't let the fact that I never replied put her off.  She told me about tonight, sent me a picture of her in that dress, and well...  I had to see for myself."

 

Aaron didn't believe him.  "I don't believe you."

 

"You don't believe me a lot at the moment."

 

"No, that wasn't—"

 

"I'm here for her, Aaron, because she deserves better."

 

"Better?"

 

"Someone who can actually give her a stable home, not mess it up the way we did.  The way that I did."

 

"We did," Aaron corrected.

 

"Me mostly."

 

Aaron said nothing.

 

"I transferred the money into your account this morning.  All of it.  Pay Liv back, give it away, move away.  Whatever you want."

 

"You know it was never about the money," Aaron said, turning to look back over the dance floor where Liv was currently shaking her hair about in what seemed to be a dance but just looked like they should have antlers to be able to rut properly.  "Not just about the money anyway."

 

"I know," Robert said, standing perfectly next to Aaron, looking out over the same dance floor.

 

Aaron could feel him there, the way that the air shifted when you had someone in your space but they weren't quite touching you.

 

"So is that it?"

 

"More than anything I want you to be happy.  And you're not.  Not with me."

 

"Robert—"

 

"I want to let Vic know where I am, but I don't want to make things awkward."

 

"She's your sister."

 

"Adam's your best mate."

 

"You're my best mate," Aaron corrected before he could stop himself.

 

The air at his elbow stilled.

 

The music changed and the tempo slowed.

 

Both Aaron and Robert held their breath as the first notes of Adele boomed out of the speakers.  And before she'd even finished the first verse Aaron was pulling at his tie again, heading for the exit and feeling like he was going to be sick.

 

* * *

 

"I just want to know you're OK," Robert said as he found Aaron out in the car park, Adele's voice tinny and distance in the night air.  "I'll go.  I didn't want to come—"

 

"So why did you?"

 

"Liv asked me."

 

"Liv asked and you come, but me?  You don't for me?"

 

"We're not good for each other Aaron, you said so yourself.  And you're right.  I didn't want to admit it, but you're right.  I thought that if I just loved you enough, if I tried enough, then maybe it would be enough to counter all the screwed up things that we did.  That I did."

 

"I thought you were dead," Aaron said, bluntly.  Somewhere in the pause he thinks Adele sings about the highway of regret.  "I thought you were dead and when the police turned up I don't know what was worse: hearing that you were alive or hearing that you didn't want anything to do with me."

 

"You told me to go—"

 

"I didn't mean that though!"

"Well how was I supposed to know that?" Robert yelled.  "I thought it was pretty clear what you wanted."

 

"I didn't know what I wanted, not until..."

 

"Until what?"

 

"Until they left and I realised you weren't coming back.  Then all I wanted to do was to tell you I was sorry."

 

Adele was singing her final lines about dreams coming true and Aaron moved over to where Robert was standing.  "Dance with me," he said.

 

"You don't dance."

 

"Maybe I do.  Maybe I should start.  Maybe...  maybe I want to now."

 

"The song's finished."

 

"There will be another one," Aaron said as his hands found Robert's waist.  In the background something equally tinny and quiet and slow started up but it didn't matter what it was.  They stood and they swayed.

 

And then they started to talk.

 

 

* * *

 

As the Year 11s started to pour out from the hall Liv scanned the car park for her missing brothers.  She picked out two shapes sitting on a low wall, the hands between them didn't seem to be quite touching but she suspected that if she got a little closer she'd find that they probably were.

 

Hanging back with some of her friends, posing for the obligatory Snaps and Instagrams, she watched them as much as she dared.  As the crowd thinned out and the cold September Yorkshire air settled on her bare shoulders and arms, she slowly started over to them.

 

"Good night?" Aaron asked when he saw her coming over.

 

"Yeah, you?"

 

"Had better," Aaron said.

 

"Look, I'm sorry.  I just thought if you two could finally sit down and talk you'd sort this out and—"

 

"Liv, it's fine," Robert said, getting down off the wall.  "I'm glad you invited me."

 

"But you're leaving?"

 

"Liv—" Aaron started.

 

"And you're going to just let him go?" she yelled at Aaron.  Turning back to Robert she squared her jaw and her shoulders, the deep crimson of her dress making her look almost devilish.  "He's been miserable without you and I know you've not exactly been living it up since you left.  I thought you two loved each other."

 

"We do—" Robert started.

 

"Then how about you actually deal with this instead of running away?"

 

"Are you done?" Aaron asked, getting off the wall and joining them.  "Look, why don't you get off and—"

 

"I give up," Liv said.  "You want to make yourselves miserable, fine by me.  Sorry for trying and caring and sorry for actually being invested in your happiness.  After everything we've been through I thought this is what you'd want."

 

"I do," Aaron said and he couldn't help but smile as Liv almost froze mid-thought.  "It's OK."

 

"I don't get it."

 

"We're... going to try something," Robert said.  "Something we didn't actually get to do before."

 

"What?"

 

"Dating," Robert said, a grin on his face like he was the teenager here.  "Tomorrow night I'm taking Aaron out.  A proper date, somewhere out of the village.  And we are going to take things slow."

 

"You're going to date your husband?"

 

"Yup," Aaron grinned, just as wide as Robert.

 

"So... this is good?"

 

"Yes, it's good," Aaron said, pulling Liv in close and tucking her under his shoulder.  "We—god, you're freezing."

 

"Go home," Robert said, "I'll see you tomorrow?"

 

"Yeah," Aaron smiled.  He looked down as he felt Liv's hand push into his pocket, pulling his car keys out.

 

"Say goodbye properly, I'll be in the car," she said as she turned and walked off across the tarmac.

 

"You know, I think this officially make Adele our song," Robert said, the grin subsiding into a smile as Aaron moved a little closer to him.

 

"Don't push it," Aaron said.  "I'm glad you came tonight though."

 

"Me too.  Aaron, this time—"

 

"No.  No promises, OK?  I just..."  He took a deep breath.  "We start from the beginning."

 

"OK."

 

"Oh, and don't be late," Aaron said, half turning to go.  "You don't want to make a bad first impression."

 

"That's it?" Robert asked.  "I thought Liv said to say goodbye properly."

 

"I'm not putting out on the first date," Aaron mocked.

 

"That's tomorrow," Robert pointed out.

 

"True," Aaron said, walking away.  "But imagine what the first kiss is going to be like now?"

 

"Is that a promise?"

 

Aaron turned as he walked, stepping backwards so as to watch Robert for a moment.  He smiled, mouth curling up a little more on one side the way that it did when Aaron's mischievous streak kicked in.  And it was more than a promise to Robert.

**Author's Note:**

> Come chat with me on [Tumblr](http://beautifulhigh.tumblr.com) if you want.


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